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The voters got it absolutely right; October is by far the best month of a year to be a Myrtle Beach resident.

It rarely gets hotter than 85 degrees all month long (still warm enough for some beach days) and the nights are cool enough to shut off the air conditioner and open a few windows.

Traffic has settled down considerably from the summer months and the original rush of back-to-school traffic, so it doesn’t take an hour to get from Murrells Inlet to North Myrtle Beach anymore.

And the sun seems to shine even brighter on the weekends, when there is no shortage of fall festivals and events to attend up and down the Grand Strand. Take your pick of Oktoberfests, head down to Georgetown for the Wooden Boat Show or head up to Loris for the annual bog-off. There is food, beer, live music, fun for all ages to be had every single weekend during October in the Myrtle Beach area.

The only bad thing about October is that we haven’t figured out how to be in more than one place at a time!

Best Farmers Market

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DeVille Street Farmers Market

The farmers market at The Market Common may be small, but it packs a punch and shuts down a street for four hours every Saturday and in the fall you can peruse the vendor booths with leaves crunching beneath your feet.

The DeVille Street Farmers Market is anchored by the vegetable stand, which has vegetables I didn’t even know existed along with the basics like carrots, tomatoes, squash and the biggest ears of corn I’ve ever seen. You can grab a bag and mix and match veggies for $1.49 per pound.

Tip: Save this stand for last, because you’ll end up buying lots of vegetables, and veggies are heavy to carry around, but be sure you don’t spend all your cash at the vendor next door, Mountain Man Honey. You’ll be tempted to, because he gives out free samples of his different varieties of honey and you won’t be able to leave without a jar (or three).

Other vendors vary, selling a wide range of items, from bejeweled dinnerware to alpaca products to Pimento cheese, roasted pecans and sometimes even seafood from Seven Seas Seafood Market in Murrells Inlet. Beachcombers in Surfside Beach has a table sometimes, too, selling soaps and other items.

Be sure to stop by the booth that has different themed cornhole bags and see if they have your favorite sports team!

This farmers market runs May through October from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and is hosted by the Waccamaw Market Cooperative.

Best Consignment Shop (for moms)

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Once Upon a Child

Moms everywhere know the dilemma of keeping clothes on kids who grow way too fast. Once Upon a Child in Surfside Beach has the cure to keeping ‘em clothed without breaking the bank.

With a recently expanded location, there’s something for kids of all ages and sizes, most at bargain prices and in like-new condition. Need ballet shoes? They’ve got you covered. Rain boots? Check. Last-minute Halloween costume? Just stop on by.

There are plenty of toys and books to choose from too, especially for babies and toddlers.

And the very best part is, once your children have outgrown their clothes or their toys, bring them to Once Upon a Child and have them look it all over and offer you cold, hard cash for items in good condition or store credit so you can buy the next size up! The store also has a card for customers that gives you punches for every $10 dollars you spend, and once you get 10 punches, bring the card in for a 15 percent discount off your entire purchase.

Once Upon a Child is located at 2727 Beaver Run Blvd., Surfside Beach, just down from Wal-Mart in the strip mall. Call 650-2229.

Best Gym/Fitness Facility

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Planet Fitness

Once again, the readers are right! Planet Fitness on Seaboard Street in Myrtle Beach is the most complete gym at the beach, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to accommodate everyone’s schedules.

It offers equipment and machines you’d expect from any gym, with enough of them that you’re never waiting to work out. There are also several specialty workout rooms: one for stretching, one for abdominal workouts, a 30-minute circuit room, and a room to work your legs and back.

The weight-lifting area also comes with a “hunk alarm” to discourage anyone from being too vocal when they are lifting and making other patrons uncomfortable. And, as the staff says, they aren’t afraid to use it!

Planet Fitness also offers massage chairs, red-light therapy and hyrdo-massage. The locker rooms have plenty of lockers available (bring your own lock) and clean, hot showers.

There are two membership plans available and prices vary by month.

Visit www.planetfitness.com.

Best Shopping Center

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The Market Common

It might be the newest shopping center in the Myrtle Beach area (it was completed in April 2008) and a little off the beaten path between U.S. 17 Bypass and Business on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force base, but The Market Common is different from any other shopping destination in the area.

The live-work shops give it more of a city feel, and it offers something for everyone in the family so you can easily spend the entire day shopping, eating and playing. It has specialty shops like City Mac for Apple lovers and boutiques like Bijuju for shop-a-holics. It has shops you’re probably more familiar with, too, like Barnes & Noble, Tommy Bahama and Anthropologie.

Hungry after all that shopping? There are plenty of options right there, from casual dining at Nacho Hippo or Ultimate California Pizza to something a little bit more upscale at P.F. Chang’s or Travinia Italian Kitchen. Or you can eat outside on the patios of Gordon Biersch or King Street Grille.

If you’re looking for a bit of entertainment, you can catch a movie at Grand 14 Cinema, voted Best of the Beach for best place to watch a movie, or catch a live show at Stage Left Theatre Company. There is also an art gallery you can peruse at Seacoast Artists Gallery.

And if the kids get a bit restless, there’s a cure for that, too! There’s a small children’s park in the middle of The Market Common across from Barnes & Noble, or you can walk across the street to Grand Park for a bigger playground, ball fields, a mile-long walking path and plenty of ducks and geese to feed.